Chapter 31: A Lone Grave in the Forest

Qiu Yiyao did not dwell on it and ran toward another intersection.

Yet, when she stood panting at a strange fork in the road, she found that under the streetlamp ahead, the same eerie figure was walking toward her with the same posture and the same pace.

"A ghost-led trail?"

Qiu Yiyao had never believed in such things before, but after experiencing so many bizarre events, what was impossible anymore?

Seeing that there was no way to escape, she simply stopped running, unwilling to waste her energy on going in circles. She took the fruit knife out of her bag and gripped it tightly. Taking a deep breath, she tried her best to calm down.

The "dwarf" continued to move toward her slowly. He was dressed entirely in black, his hair swaying with the movement of his body, yet never shifting away from his face. As the distance closed, Qiu Yiyao’s hand holding the knife trembled slightly; her palms were so sweaty that the handle of the blade became slick.

Perhaps sensing her tension, the "dwarf" stopped seven or eight meters away, and the sound of his footsteps ceased. The surroundings returned to silence. They stood in a standoff, neither willing to speak first.

Seconds ticked by. Fine beads of sweat broke out on Qiu Yiyao’s forehead, but she dared not raise her hand to wipe them, fearing that if she let her guard down for a moment, the "dwarf" would rush forward and ambush her.

Who knows how much time passed until the large bird flew overhead again, its strange cry making the deep night feel even more sinister.

"Hey, who exactly are you? Why do you keep following me?" Qiu Yiyao shouted, emboldened. The "dwarf" did not respond but raised his hands toward his face. He grabbed his hair on both sides and pulled it apart.

The dim light of the streetlamp illuminated his face, and Qiu Yiyao’s eyes widened in horror, her hands clamped tightly over her mouth. The pale face was completely smooth—no facial features, no hair, just like a blank sheet of paper.

Qiu Yiyao knew this gesture was intended to terrify her and break her mental defenses. But at this moment, she absolutely could not let him succeed. Even though her body was shaking like a leaf, she gritted her teeth, refusing to let out a scream.

Perhaps seeing that Qiu Yiyao was not as terrified as expected, the "dwarf" took a few more steps forward, standing directly under the streetlamp.

The light shone down from above, casting him like a dark oil barrel. Qiu Yiyao recoiled instinctively.

Suddenly, the "dwarf" let out a shrill, piercing roar. His body lunged forward abruptly, and he collapsed onto the ground, vanishing as if he were a puddle of black water.

This sight shattered Qiu Yiyao’s worldview; her body trembled even more violently.

"Is... is this a ghost?"

Only with the supernatural could the "dwarf" disappear so suddenly, and only then would the town be this bizarre.

"No... I must stay strong. I cannot... cannot be defeated."

Qiu Yiyao thought of Qiu Shengming; he was still waiting for her to come home. She could not be defeated like this, absolutely not. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, steeling herself. To get home, she had to be strong; no matter what she encountered, she could not be afraid.

The surroundings were deathly quiet, and the air was so stifling there wasn't a breath of wind. Qiu Yiyao turned around. The streetlamps stretched into the distance as if guiding her forward. She knew the "dwarf" could not simply be trying to scare her, so she had to leave quickly.

She headed toward the river, keeping a wary eye on her surroundings. Fortunately, when she reached the riverbank, nothing else strange appeared. The streetlamps here were even scarcer than in the streets. The river churned constantly, slapping against the embankment like someone growling in the dark.

Qiu Yiyao gritted her teeth and resolutely headed toward the woods. The river breeze hit her, bringing a chill that made her pull her collar tight. The overhead streetlamps could only illuminate a few meters of the path, so to avoid drawing attention, she had to navigate the darkness where there were no lights. Fortunately, her vision was good enough that she didn't stumble around blindly.

After walking for about twenty minutes, a bird’s cry echoed from above. Qiu Yiyao’s heart tightened involuntarily; when that bird appeared before, the "dwarf" had arrived. Did this mean his accomplices were hiding in the woods? She looked around, but in the moonlight, she saw nothing unusual.

Qiu Yiyao took her phone from her backpack and turned on the flashlight. The area illuminated by the light was calm.

"I've come this far, if I die, so be it. What is there to be afraid of?"

Qiu Yiyao tucked in her shirt and tightened her pant cuffs to prevent anything strange in the woods from crawling into her clothes. Then, holding the phone in one hand to light the way and the fruit knife in the other, she entered the forest.

From the outside, it seemed like an ordinary grove. But once inside, she realized the trees were dense, with thick trunks everywhere she looked, reaching up into the darkness. To avoid getting lost, she used her knife to carve marks into the trees as she went, ensuring that even if she circled back, she would know.

She had heard Qiu Shengming say this forest wasn't large, yet Qiu Yiyao walked for a long time without finding an exit. Fearing she had run into another "ghost-led trail," she checked the trees nearby, but none bore the marks she had left.

Even more chilling, the further she walked, the colder she felt—not the cold of low temperature, but a deep, icy chill that seemed to come from something following close behind her. She dared not look back and could only force herself to keep moving.

Careless for a moment, she tripped over something and plunged forward, her phone skittering two meters away. Fortunately, before entering the woods, she had sheathed the knife; otherwise, she might have stabbed herself in the fall.

Qiu Yiyao pushed herself up, the light from the phone illuminating a radius of two or three meters. She rubbed her bruised palm and stood up to retrieve the phone. As she looked up, she saw an unmarked tombstone appearing abruptly beside the device, with a small mound of earth behind it.

It was a grave.

Qiu Yiyao clearly remembered taking a quick look before getting up; there had been no grave there at all. Even worse, the tombstone began to shake, and a line of text slowly appeared upon it, as if someone were standing right there, carving it character by character.

When she saw the familiar name, her heart felt like it would burst from her chest. It was her mother’s name.